This invention relates to communication systems and, more particularly, to modulation methods for communication systems.
Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) is a communication scheme that allocates different spectral bands as independent communication channels. For optical transmissions over optical fibers, the allocated bands are typically spectrally adjacent and located in a spectral range for which silica-glass optical fibers provide low attenuation and/or low dispersion. The total spectral range includes wavelengths between about 1.35 microns and 1.7 microns. In WDM systems, one limitation on the bandwidth of the individual bands is cross-channel interference (CCI). The bands cannot be so broad that communications on one channel interferes with and causes errors in communications on adjacent channels.
Together CCI and the physical properties of silica-glass fibers limit the number of independent channels available to optical systems that implement WDM. As data transmission rates increase, CCI between spectrally adjacent channels also tends to increase. Future transmission rates of optical WDM systems could increase if better methods were available for reducing or handling CCI.